Team Leader
Featured Team of Innovation Consultants
Innovation Expert
Previously at
Experience
24+ Years
Innovation Consultant
Previously at
Experience
10+ Years
Innovation & CX Consultant
Previously at
Experience
12+ Years
TRUSTED BY LEADING BRANDS
CSO & CTO, Technology Services
Ali is an IT leader and strategist with 25+ years of experience at IBM, Verizon, Thomson Reuters, and Cognizant. He has led global teams, building and scaling multibillion-dollar annual growth. As a turnaround and strategic growth expert, he has jump-started innovation, grown revenue, and improved productivity.
Previously At
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OUR SERVICES
Empower your business with strategic innovation consulting. Our expert innovation consultants will help you drive sustainable growth through actionable insights and strategic innovation.
CSO & CTO, Technology Services
Ali is an IT leader and strategist with 25+ years of experience at IBM, Verizon, Thomson Reuters, and Cognizant. He has led global teams, building and scaling multibillion-dollar annual growth. As a turnaround and strategic growth expert, he has jump-started innovation, grown revenue, and improved productivity. He has worked across verticals and across a wide range of technologies including AI/ML, cloud, ERP, CRM, ITSM, cybersecurity, and others.
Previously at
Technology Experience
25+ Years
Delivery Manager
Rachael serves as a Delivery Manager at Toptal with a focus on leading diverse global teams in developing innovative solutions for our clients. She works across multiple disciplines, including technology, marketing, and management consulting. Rachael specializes in managing people and client relationships, process optimization, and driving teams toward optimal business outcomes.
Previously Managed Client
Experience
9+ Years
20+ Years
of Experience
Asa launched her consulting practice after a 20-year global career as a CX practitioner and executive leader within customer experience design for big corporates like Publicis Sapient, IKEA, du, Pandora, and Bang & Olufsen. She led large and complex CX transformations and helped multiple brands improve their whole customer experience journey to reach their business goals.
Previously at
10+ Years
of Experience
Alex has more than ten years of experience driving the software development life cycle for property management systems and customer relationship management systems, proprietary applications, Salesforce, and technology integrations in fast-paced Agile environments. He identifies the most impactful initiatives to maximize roadmap development and backlog management. Alex is engaging and strategic with a history of process innovation and product launch ability and has worked in travel, customer support, wealth management, and loyalty.
Previously at
13+ Years
of Experience
With an engineering degree, two master's degrees, including an MBA, and the ability to speak four languages, Adrian has delivered as a product manager in North America, LATAM, and Europe on multiple innovation initiatives, including software development, AI strategy, project delivery, blockchain, geolocation, and Agile implementation. Adrian has extensive experience in technical and business roles and has worked in several industries: telecom, cloud native, supply chain, retail, fintech, and IT.
Previously at
28+ Years
of Experience
Avalon is recognized for his successful business, digital, Agile, and AI transformations, leveraging his considerable product, program, and project management experience. He is a certified MIT Artificial Intelligence Strategist, PMI Project Management Professional, Disciplined Agile Value Stream Consultant, Disciplined Agile Coach, and Disciplined Agile Senior Scrum Master. He has outstanding power skills and the ability to align with all levels of an organization.
Previously at
12+ Years
of Experience
Anna is an innovative, award-winning product manager in the technical and physical world with more than 12 years of experience in the food and beverage sector, including PepsiCo and Mars. After starting her career in brand management, she shifted to product management for FMCG, food production, restaurants, delivery, and retail. Anna has an MBA in international economics and a professional product management education. She achieves big goals, negotiates well, learns fast, and speaks four languages.
Previously at
21+ Years
of Experience
Amleto is a seasoned product and strategy manager with extensive experience building B2B software. In his work with PayPal, JP Morgan, his own startup, and Worldsensing, he has built a deep understanding of purchase mechanisms in the B2B software and SaaS space. He has successfully launched countless products that proved to be profit-driving and resource-saving. He also has launched software that has won several international awards.
Previously at
31+ Years
of Experience
Darshan is a seasoned product management and marketing specialist, a strategy and transformation catalyst, and an innovation architect. He has executive experience with multiple industries, domains, startups, and enterprises, acting as a trusted advisor, mentor, and coach to C-level executives and founders. Darshan is passionate about bringing concepts and strategies to life, simplifying complexity, harnessing innovation, leveraging digital customer experience strategies and emerging tech, and leading global cross-functional teams.
Previously at
18+ Years
of Experience
Simone is a machine learning scientist and engineer with experience in academia and enterprises, including Microsoft and Huawei. He likes to work at the intersection of deep machine learning, NLP, and information retrieval. Simone also loves to work on exploration analysis and building theoretically sound machine learning pipelines ready for production. He especially enjoys building web products.
Previously at
16+ Years
of Experience
Francesco has years of experience in finance, consulting, business management, and sustainability. Throughout these years, he has worked on more than 20 projects as a consultant at Bain & Company and launched Uber operations in Turin, Italy. Lately, he has founded Tondo, an organization spreading circular economy concepts, and Tondo Lab, a company driving the implementation of clean and circular innovations. Francesco is passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship.
Previously at
27+ Years
of Experience
Mihai is a seasoned program and project manager and transformation consultant with extensive experience in digital transformation, process optimization, automation, software development, and technology integration. He strategically navigates change and manages senior relationships within Tier 1 banks, global blue-chip companies, and startups. He restructures troubled projects, solves problems, and devises operating models and Agile methodologies, fostering collaboration and long-term success.
Previously at
30+ Years
of Experience
Chris has more than 30 years of experience in product management at companies such as Oracle, VMware, and Yahoo. He has consulted at companies such as Thomson Reuters, UnitedHealth Group, and Thrivent Financial. He loves helping large companies with the early stages of product ideation, where they unintentionally hamper innovation. Chris knows how to navigate corporate culture while moving forward with the speed and agility of a startup.
Previously at
15+ Years
of Experience
Manali has worked in several organizations as a Scrum master of multiple development teams. She follows all Scrum ceremonies and manages stakeholders' expectations to prepare and track the risk matrix. She adheres to budget plans and updates reports to appropriate stakeholders. Manali is committed to designing user-centric experiences and is passionate about working with teams whose vision aligns with her values.
Previously at
22+ Years
of Experience
Paula is an experienced digital-age leader, bridging businesses, customer-centricity, marketing, and technology. With her visionary, hands-on approach, she can successfully lead a range of business and development themes. Her most vital abilities are future strategy and vision, innovation and new product development, growth, strategic marketing, and branding as a product leader.
Previously at
9+ Years
of Experience
Lorenzo is a senior software engineer experienced in building robust and scalable applications. He has worked at BMW Innovation Labs, CynaxLabs, DP World, Interjoin, and Deloitte, where he took responsibility for finding solutions to emerging challenges and implementing them seamlessly. With a background in mechanical engineering, Lorenzo is a critical thinker and a skillful software and AI developer eager to embrace new experiences.
Previously at
12+ Years
of Experience
Aishwarya is an SPJIMR and Cornell exchange MBA graduate in finance with 12+ years of experience in strategy, business planning, and financial services. She has collaboratively built an early-stage startup from scratch, worked with industry leaders like Deloitte, and is adept in financial modeling, asset optimization, and business transformations. Aishwarya appreciates the opportunity to work remotely with passionate entrepreneurs and management teams to unlock growth in their organizations.
Previously at
Implement transformative business solutions with Toptal’s Innovation Consulting
WHY ORGANIZATIONS CHOOSE US
Discover the cutting-edge benefits our clients enjoy globally from the Toptal network.
Boston Children’s Hospital accelerates software innovation with Toptal developers.
Challenge: The Innovation & Digital Health Accelerator team at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) works on a range of software projects, from government initiatives to AI-integrated imaging apps. They needed a nimble solution to augment their teams with on-demand, highly qualified developers, designers, and other specialized technical talent.
Solution: When the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tasked BCH with rapidly developing Vaccines.gov to connect patients with vaccination centers, BCH turned to Toptal. Within days, Toptal supplied a team of full-stack developers with niche technology and industry experience, enabling them to integrate immediately and help the project meet its critically tight deadline.
Outcome: Toptal’s partnership has enabled BCH to develop multiple cutting-edge products enhancing and saving thousands of lives, including Vaccines.gov, Vision Ninja, and Virtual Hip—an AI-based imaging program that facilitates better, more accurate care for orthopedic patients.
When I think of Toptal, I think of a seamless, true partnership. Toptal understands our work, and we always feel like we are partnered together and moving in the same direction.
Mark Oglia
Manager, Application Development
Collaboration that works
Toptal connects you directly with world-class innovation experts from our network within hours—not weeks or months.
Drive transformative growth with Toptal’s Innovation Consulting
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NEED WORLD-CLASS INNOVATION CONSULTING FAST?
Ali Faraj
CSO & CTO, Technology Services
OUR THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Read the latest articles and resources to keep you current on emerging trends in innovation.
Empowering non-researchers to collect client feedback can pave the way to better products and customer retention.
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Previously at
RELATED EXPERTISE
Pair Toptal’s Innovation Consulting with related competencies to tackle your business initiatives extensively.
Drive transformative growth with Toptal’s Innovation Consulting
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